Detlef and Karen Koeppe, owners of Steinhaus German Restaurant, in Florence, photographed inside of their restaurant on Tuesday morning. The Enquirer/ Amanda Rossmann

Written by

Stephen Enzweiler
| Community Columnist

Villa Hills resident Detlef Koeppe still remembers that Christmas in 1959 when his life changed forever. It's a story he rarely tells, but one he agreed to recount when I sat down with him at lunch recently.

"I was 4 years old," he begins, gazing out the window in thought at the bright, blue winter sky. "We lived in Magdeburg, East Germany, at the time, and my mother worked for the newspaper there."

Detlef's mother, Inge Koeppe, was a 33-year-old single mom who enjoyed her job as an editorial assistant with the Magdeburg newspaper. They lived in a small apartment not far from her work and near the ...